9 Months Old!

Hi everyone, Hard to believe that Maya is 9 months old already! She is becoming quite the character -- trying to follow in her sister's silly ways. She is pretty laid back and happy as can be. She has made us as happy as can be as well -- what a joy!


Maya is a giggle bug and easy to please. Just like with Gabi, we love how simple things can crack her up!

This is what she does after every bite of food now...guess it means she thinks it is lip-smacking good! ;-)

We won't go in for her 9 month check-up until next week, so I don't have her official stats yet! She is definitely still a roly poly! She gets around by rolling and pushing herself in circles and backwards. She gets up in the crawling position, but it may be awhile yet. Her favorite word is, "dada" and she has said, "cat" a couple of times. She likes to wave "hi" and give high fives. She love music and watching her sister (and mom!) dance. She eats and WANTS to eat anything and everything. She doesn't have any teeth yet. She still gets mommy milk, but prefers it from a bottle now. I still get my snuggle time in the morning before I leave for work! :) The best words I can think of to describe her are "chill" and "daddy's girl" -- she adores Joe. I'm okay with that -- I adore him too! :)

A respiratory virus made its way into our household. I definitely took (and am still taking) the brunt of it. Gabi and Maya fought it off really well. Joe escaped it completely. Knock on wood. I haven't been sick in years, so I'm frustrated that it has slowed me down, but that is probably a good thing every once in awhile.

In other news, I am the only one in my extended family in the country right now. My brother is in Africa for almost a month (Malawai, Zaire, Zimbabwe) visiting and touring with a friend of his working in the Peace Corps. My parents are on a Carribean Cruise (they deserve it -- Iowa has had a horrible winter this year.) I'm sure they're soaking up the sun.

Hope you all are doing well! Take care and thanks for checking in on us!

Love, Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some pictures of our two little bundles of love. I believe it is close to impossible to get a "perfect" picture of an 8 month old and 2 year old together, but here are some of my efforts. Hope you enjoy all the outtakes! :) Silly Girls!Here are a few more...we are all doing great!

I wish I had some pictures of our trip to Steamboat last weekend, but my computer "ate" them. We met a bunch of our great friends from college for a few days of skiing, stories, and the SuperBowl. Go Saints! (Joe has been a lifetime Saints fan, so he was pumped with their victory.) Gabi was able to ski quite a bit and loved every second. We are amazed at what good balance she has. She really liked riding the magic carpet. She thinks that the Olympic skiers on TV ride magic carpets as well! Steamboat was having their Winter Carnival while we were there, so we were able to see some ski jumping, ski races, and horses pulling skiers down Lincoln Ave, The girls (minus Maya) attended a night celebration complete with the "lighted man" sking down Howelson Hill and some outstanding fireworks. Here is a picture that Ashley took that night.

Lots of love,

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

"G" is for GABI; "M" is for MAYA

Our view from the front of our house (stands for Golden High School)

What our view would be from the back of our house if our huge neighborhood trees were not in the way (stands for Colorado School of Mines)

It is a coincidence that Golden has a "G" for Gabi and an "M" for Maya. I don't even remember how we discovered it, but I love how Gabi thinks the "G" is up there especially for her! She points it out a lot out our front window and says, "G is for Gabi!" If we ever decide to have more kids, we will either have to move or do some major vandalism! :-)

Things have been quiet around here; finally getting back into the routine of things after the holiday season. Here are a few pictures of the girls from the past few weeks.

Dancing

Some of Maya's favorite things to do:

• clap!
• eat little finger foods -- she can inhale those little puffs like you wouldn't believe!
• watch us dance
• Rocky, our cat (she giggles every time she sees him)
• flip her tongue over -- it is the craziest thing and I'll try to get a picture of it!
• have her curly-on-top "fauxhawk" hairstyle (I'm thinking we'll have one girl with straight hair and one with curly!)
• just chill and be happy!

Some of Gabi's favorite things to do:

• dance!
• read any and all Cat in the Hat/Dr. Seuss or Fancy Nancy books
• feed Jackson (who says she is too young for chores!?)
• ask "Why?" and "Why NOT?" a lot
• count in English and in Spanish (she can get to 16 in both languages)
• SING! She has quite a repertoire -- "Twinkle Twinkle," "Days of the Week," "Personal Penguin," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Who Stole the Cookie?," and the "ABCs"

We hope this finds everyone doing well! Thanks for checking in on us!
Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Our "S Vacation"

Hello everyone! I thought I'd share some pictures from our Christmas week in Breckenridge. Gabi referred to it as our "s vacation -- snow, snowshoeing, skiing, swimming, santa, stockings, and scrumptious food!"

A QUICK family picture -- it was cold!!

Grandpa's prodigy -- she loved it when he played Jingle Bells!

Grammy Mary & Maya

We took Gabi skiing for the first time and SHE LOVED IT! She giggled the entire way down the hill, as you can see in the video. I can't wait to take her again!

Even Maya was taking notes about how to ski -- she's next! ;-)


We spent quite a bit of time at the lodge's swimming pool. It was Maya's 1st time swimming and she thought it was just great! She has always loved baths, so we knew she would!

Just Lounging

Santa did find us in Breckenridge!

Gabi received a cowgirl set-up --

hat, boots, and a stick pony. She immediately named her pony, "Buddy."

Joe received some "muck boots" for Christmas, a little bigger than the cowboy boots Gabi received, but still fun for her.

Our "s vacation" also added some big words to Gabi's vocabulary -- "cappuccino" and "delicious". If you know my parents, you will know why "cappuccino" is so fitting. And if your family ate like ours did that week, then "delicious" makes sense too! We had a great time with my parents and brother!

We spent New Years up in Buffalo, but unfortunately didn't take too many pictures, but we had a great time there as well!

Happy New Year!

Love, Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were surrounded by family and friends!

"Pretty Lights"

We have really been getting into the Holiday spirit lately. It is so fun now that Gabi is understanding most things. She loves the tree and all of the lights that she sees around town -- "pretty lights!" She also enjoys decorating Christmas cookies, getting a treat from her Advent calendar each day, and singing Christmas carols! She is actually pretty good at "Jingle Bells" -- we will try to get her on video one of these days! We also took a trip to Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo -- it was actually really cool!



Maya is doing well sitting by herself now. She loves it when Gabi sits next to her to play. Maya has started to say some syllables -- mostly "lalalala, wawawa, dadadada" She has always been very vocal, but it is still kind of fun to hear her starting to understand the beginnings of speech.

Maya is also really into eating lately!

We all know that this time of year...THIS....

leads to....THIS....Thunder Thighs! Gotta love it!

(She is going to kill me when she is older!)

Have a good week! Gabi is counting down the days until Grammy Mary, Papa Gary, and Tom get here. We're headed up to Breckenridge for a week over Christmas! Happy Holidays to you all!

All our love,

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Thankful

It has been so long since my last post, that this one is lengthy! We are all doing great -- staying healthy, busy, and happy as always. Here are some events that have made us so thankful for the wonderful family that we have.

My Mom came to visit in early November. She watched the girls for a day while Joe & I went a Wyoming football game. I know Gabi & Maya enjoyed it and I'm sure she did too! Thank you Mom!


We spent an entire week in Buffalo with Joe's family over Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to just relax and enjoy each other. Gabi & Maya got lots of quality time playing with their cousins Gio & Marco.


Amanda & Greer hosted Thanksgiving dinner -- it was outstanding! Thanks you guys!


Gabi went on her first horseback ride! She didn't like it at first, but warmed up pretty quickly. She rode Buddy, the horse, with Papa Dave first, then by herself, and then Gio got in on the action. She loved it and was a natural! She still keeps saying "Giddy Up, Buddy!" When we say our prayers at night, she now prays for Buddy in addition to all of her family and friends.


Look, they're taking turns!!! ;-)


Even Maya was able to meet and ride Buddy:


We had some family pictures taken a month ago or so. Here are a few of them. If you would like to see more, click HERE.


Here are some more pictures from around the house this past month! Gabi has been talking so much lately -- we can't believe how fast she is picking it up now. She has even started singing to herself (especially the ABC song).


Hiking on South Table:


Maya is still a calm and happy baby. She has been filling out ever since she started eating cereal, fruits, and vegies! Her legs are so strong and she can scooch herself and roll around on the floor. She loves to "talk", squeal, bathtime, anything Gabi does, and cuddles.
I took Maya to see Dr. Julia yesterday for her 6 month check-up (yes, 6 months already!!) Here are her stats:

• 16.4 lbs (61 %ile)
• 26 inches long (61 %ile)
• 17.5 inch head (90 %ile)

We hope this finds you all healthy, happy, and enjoying the Holiday season! I'm excited for Gabi to help me decorate the tree and house today!

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya